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How are bit rates related to sample rates?

Hours of reading haven't cleared up a dilema: at 44.1KHz sampling rate x 2 channels x 16 bits , about 1400k bits of information should be produced per second when we play a CD (or 1400 bits of space should be used on the CD). However, my itunes files show that songs use from 128 to 863 kbits/sec. Why? The lower bit rate songs were all downloaded from itunes (no more of that). But why are songs ripped from CD's showing variations in the bit rate and all under 1000kbps? I'm lost.
manorraul

Showing 1 response by almarg

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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Probably because your iTunes preferences are set to import in a compressed format, such as mp3. In iTunes, go to the Edit menu, then to Preferences, then to Advanced, then to the Importing tab, and then set "Import Using" to "WAV Encoder." That will result in uncompressed bit-for-bit importing (aside from some additional bits that will be added as part of the .wav file format "wrapper").

Regards,
-- Al
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